The Islanders (not the hockey team), Texans (not the football team), and Floridians -- especially GTBers traumatized by 100+ mph winds and storm surges taller than Gheorghe Muresan. God bless.
Mexican earthquake victims, just the latest natural disaster to plague the planet's inhabitants. With more such events to come along soon, sadly and assuredly.
All of these catastrophes remind me of two things. Weirdly.
One, the line "we care a lot about disasters, fires, floods, and killer bees. Faith No More.
The other is Gheorghe Carlin's typically irreverent take on our planet and those who would assert it needs saving. It's all good Carlin, but jump to 6:30 for the best.
Well, there's a slew of Mother Nature ass-whippings taking place out there this week, and I am hopeful that casualties are few and far between. It does seem like Irma could have been far crueler to the Gulf Coast (thus far). At least compared to what was "forecast" from the meteorologists. The weather folks appear to be chucking darts at a board for their predictions, now more than ever. Actually, Dave throws darts far more accurately than they predict weather.
Me wishing good things for those that have endured these irrevocably life-changing disasters doesn't really do a whole lot, as our curmudegonly fratre Malone posted this weekend (see meme at right).
As such, for those that are inclined, click on this link to go straight to the Red Cross donation site. I will make a donation so as to not be a total hypocrite. Or give blood. I'm Type O+ so they need my blood, amazingly. It's more pure than in the old days, so I give every few months.At the same time, it's just as important to remember that, accordingly a school official, six undergraduate alumni of the College of William & Mary died in 9/11, and three of them were members of our fraternity separated by just six years. Uncanny. Crappy.
In addition to Jim Connor '85, a resident of Summit, NJ at the time, we lost Mike Edwards '90. Scoop, as we called him for some reasons unbeknownst to me, was a couple of years older than Dave, Rob, and I, and he mocked us mercilessly. Deservedly.
It's funny that in college you know someone for just a few years, but because back then we crammed 37 guys into 19 tiny rooms without cable access, we got to know each other -- and our faults -- really well. Of course, then you read someone's obituary, like that of Michael Hardy Edwards:
One way he found joy was through athletics. He was a crack hurdler in college, and he continued to run. In fact, name just about any sport, and it seemed that he did it: golf, skydiving, scuba diving, snowboarding, skiing.Crack hurdler? I don't even know what that is, but if it's akin to papal elector, I guess that could be right for Scoop. I don't remember him doing a whole hell of a lot athletic, maybe simply because his permanently affixed do-rag and tie-dye don't exude "SPORTS." Anyway, I do like that on a memorial website there is this:
Education:Garden City High School
College of William & Mary
Affiliations:New York Athletic Club (where Lud's memorial service was)
Garden City Golf Club
Hobbies and Interests:
Pi Lambda Phi
running
golf skiing
playing guitar
scuba diving
Special Interests: Scuba Diving, Skiing, golf, the Grateful Dead, Central Park, Cuban cigars, Dave Matthews Band, Allman Brothers, Traveling, his friends, familyI trust that last section isn't in order. Anyway, what I remember most about Mike Edwards is whiling away the afternoons when others went to "class," lounging with a Milwaukee's Best or two and some crap cassette of Hartford '83 or the like. In his honor, here are three shows that we would have enjoyed, each performed on September 11.
Scoop... have one.
GRATEFUL DEAD -- AUDITORIUM, WEST PALM BEACH, FL 9/11/82
GRATEFUL DEAD -- CAPITAL CENTRE, LANDOVER, MD 9/11/87
GRATEFUL DEAD -- WILLIAM AND MARY HALL, WILLIAMSBURG,VA 9/11/73
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34 comments:
This is my first 9/11 outside of NY. Flags are at half-mast in California today. It's sunny here in SF. It was brilliantly sunny in NY that morning of 9/11. I'll always remember that b/c I came out of a different subway station than usual that morning, one which had a steep stairway up that afforded me a rare view up to a blue sky that wasn't blocked by a tall building.
Great post, Whit. We all should feel pretty lucky and grateful today. And every day.
Came to Moe's to grab a burrito for lunch. The Dead's "US Blues" is on the hifi. In terms of afterlife and otherworldly stuff, I don't really know what I believe in, but I don't think this was a coincidence. Cheers, Edwards.
Moe's in ORF rocks the high fidelity system. Sweet.
Thanks to Timmy Rez for echoing this post's sentiment and Timmy Marls for the huge set-up...
Speaking of "ORF Rocks"
ORF Rock is back!
Tonight, 7pm
wodustudios.com
Per the W&M website from 2014 discussing the Mike Edwards scholarship:
The Edwards Scholarship honors the memory of William & Mary alumnus Michael Hardy Edwards '90, a Garden City, N.Y., native who died on Sept. 11, 2001, in the attacks on the World Trade Center. The scholarship was established in 2002 by his wife, Jackie Edwards, and has been funded by family members and friends.
The scholarship, which provides $5,000 a year for four years so long as recipients remain in good academic standing, is awarded to an incoming freshman from the Greater New York area who best exemplifies the characteristics of Michael Edwards — character, academic achievement, and athletic participation in high school. Michael Edwards, 33 at the time of his death, was a successful businessman who, after graduating from William & Mary with a degree in government in 1990, joined Sandler O’Neill and Partners as a bond salesman, working his way up to managing director. He was also an accomplished athlete — a champion high school hurdler as well as an avid enthusiast of extreme sports.
i don't have a great memory these days, but i have etched-in-stone recall of that day and the days after, refreshing a bunch of different websites for news of scoop and lud. thanks for the remembrance, whit.
Today William & Mary reposted a 9/11 piece they did a year ago. It includes write-ups of the alums lost in the tragedy, including the three Pi Lams, and a picture of the brick we bought to memorialize our dudes. Pleased we did that. I lifted the brick pic and updated this post.
none of my students can remember 9/11 happening, which is weird. thanks for bringing back some good memories of those dudes (although i never saw edwards hurdle anything besides chip's insults)
and i bet there's a bunch of folks who have some regrets about the whole "ludding" incident
24 hours without power. The other half of my neighborhood has had power since noon. I feel like they're mocking me.
Nice post, Whit. Don't know if y'all know this, but I really got to know Edwards and Chip well because we were in a class together to get PE credits (remember in our day you had to have those; and besides Chip living in the same lodge with Blake who dated Cynthia). It was bowling. Yes-bowling. We'd drive to the bowling alley together twice a week and bowl. They were hilarious and sarcastic and it was too fun. After they graduated, we stayed in touch for some years--I saw them together in NYC even--and then a long time went by that we weren't. But about 6 weeks before 9/11 or so, Evan died. I learned from Chris Blake (who I was in contact with in Richmond), and that led to connecting with them again. So, Mike and I were emailing and phoning, then 9/11. So gut-wrenchingly sad. My fam went to the memorial this spring--beautiful but hard place to visit.
Soooo, the quarterbacks who lit it up in Week 1 included Smith, Goff, Taylor Bradford and Siemian.
NFL is a league w/ few good QBs and fewer average O-lines. The downward spiral is clearly underway. Hard to see ratings rebound this season among the shit sandwich games.
Awesome and sad, Donna. So much loss in our group, but we lean on the memories, keep telling the old and ridiculous stories, and band together to ensure we make more stories that would make these people smile.
lost power the night of the storm which saw about 10 of us males from the hood getting far drunker than we should have and out riding in the storm on an 8-seater golf cart, kidnapping people along the way. we were back in by the time the heavy stuff came.
still w/out power. no flooding though. we live in a new development which was developed properly. neighborhoods within a couple of miles can't say the same. currently in the office at jax beach...all looks good. lots of surfers out today.
am glad to hear mark avoided flooding. holy shit I can't imagine the mayhem that would cause - 2 days of no power is about all I'm equipped to handle.
and sadly, it was yesterday evening at about 8 pm that my wife and I realized it was 9/11.
my sister in jax had some minor water damage, lost some tree branches, and had no power for a short time. power came on last night, so she has cold beers.
good to hear...heading her way now.
Avett Brothers documentary in theaters one night only. As in tonight. I know Rootsy won't be going to see it at the Grandin Theatre, but if any others among you are interested, check it out.
http://www.avettbrothersfilm.com/
Obviously the FL contingent needs to get power and get dry, so probably not you. Unless the theater is dry and powered.
rootsy'll be there in disguise. he's a closet avetts fan. the disdain is all an act.
I have probably 20 free passes to the Grandin Theatre. It's a half mile from my house. Whitney is correct - I will not be there. Zman is incorrect - the disdain is real.
I am scheduled to fly to JAX early Friday morning to pick up a car we're buying from my maw in law. Perhaps I'll listen to some Avett Bros on the way home, though it's doubtful.
somewhere, zman just felt a disturbance in the force
Friggin Zman
Zman is putting on. He knows my true feelings. If it weren't for his musical influence on me, I might be able to appreciate some bearded white dudes being overly emotive while accompanied by awful banjo playing. But I chased the black music lineage way back, and I'd rather hear Ali Farka Toure moaning in a language I don't understand.
Don't be scared of your emotions, Rootsy. Embrace the... emotionalism.
szh (shaking zhead)
but i dig on toure-stylings along with hillbilly harmonies.
I'm not scared of scared of my emotions. I was recently brought to tears by the Hamilton soundtrack.
But once you've mainlined some Dock Boggs (hillbilly) or Bukka White (bluesy), some of the other stuff doesn't hit quite as hard.
This is no forum for bukkake talk, thank you very much.
Good news about Danimal. Wife's friend who lives near him had some neighbors who suffered major flooding for the second time in as many years. Might be time to leave that neighborhood, imo.
We are finishing up day 2 without power. It seems people all around our area are getting it back but not us so far. Going back to my sisters house again for another evening. Local brewery was open when I drove by just now so I stopped in to grab a growler. Silver linings and shit.
I told you guys that rob writes everything here, even my stuff.
This is always a forum for bukkake talk.
do i get residuals?
zson drew a picture of himself saying "I hate math" on his math homework. It will be a long school year.
I lost power for 4-5 days each on three separate occasions in '11 and '12. Was brutal every time. Hang in there, Mark.
Thanks, TR. No power is inconvenient but I've got nothing to complain about based on what I've seen driving around town the past two days.
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